canerods

PhoenixBiker 

I wouldn't sweat the speed too much. I'm 62, riding a nice road bike with drop bars, and I only average 12 to 13 mph on the rolling terrain we have here in West Virginia. Speed comes with time spent on the bike. I'm only now getting back on after a long absence (health issues). Before those issues, I started off averaging 10-11 mph but, within a year, was averaging about 15 mph. As Greg Lemond so famously said, "It never gets easier. You just go faster."

That said, if your flat-bar bike is a mountain bike with big, fat knobby tires, you'll definitely get more speed out of a road bike with skinny tires because there's less rolling resistance. Road bikes have more aggressive gearing, too.

You wouldn't happen to live in Louisiana, would you, canerods?

bogydave

jrbz

How long have you been riding? What kind of distance are you up to?
I'll be 70 next month. I raced last weekend. In my 40's I averaged 22mph on that course, now I average 15.8mph, I'm still enjoying it. Have started trying a new training method, only in the last two months but I think I've made some progress. High-intensity interval training , specifically the Vollard regimen.
A new fast road bike might give you a slight boost, but good, smart training can make a huge difference.

Maelochs

It might be technique, it might be equipment. At that speed, aero isn't a huge issue, so a flat bar versus a drop bar wouldn't make a difference ... plus, you can tuck down over a flat bar, it just takes more work over time.

I don't know anything about your bike or your cycling history. it could be your brakes are dragging, it could be you are using the wrong gears, it could be that you are doing everything right, and that at your level of fitness that is your natural pace right now.

I am Interested in my speed ... but I measure smiles per mile. if I always enjoyed faster rides, i would always ride faster. Instead, i ride at whatever pace I like, and I always like riding. As others have noted, your pace will naturally pick up, and if you try serious training, it could increase a lot. Depends what you want to do on your bike.

I used to take a spin class with a guy who was 82. he complained about how everything went downhill at age 77 .... he was still just as fast, but recovery from a long, hard day took longer.

I couldn't keep up with him on my best day and his worst ... and he had 25 years on me. But ... if I keep it up, I might be quicker by the time I am that age.

If you see me on the road in ten years, please at least Pretend you are working hard when you pass me.

Stormsedge

Don't get frustrated...it takes time to build speed. I'm 61yo and in year 2 of trying to ride seriously...my average speed ~13 on my road bike...when I started on my flat bar, I was happy with >10.

Harumph

Just takes time. I'm 60 and have been riding road bikes since 1999. I'm 5'10 and weigh 195 lbs. My average over a 60 mile course with hills is around 19.8 riding solo. In the low 20's with a couple of my riding buddies. In 1999 also was getting passed by everyone. Over time my speed and endurance increased with saddle time. Spin classes also help. Now I cycle two to three times a week and teach spin classes on occasion. It's very addictive.

canerods

Thanks for those replies... interesting comments. I've returned to biking about 4 weeks ago after many years of doing nothing on a bike. So obviously, I do need a lot more biking time under my belt. I've been doing about 8 miles in the evenings with the temperatures, as in many places this summer, in the high 80s/low 90s, and I must say I'm ready for a break after about 8 miles. But, I seem to recover really quickly and could continue to ride if I wanted, it's not at all like I'm totally drained or anything. My bike has 24 gears and I mostly ride on the center sprocket on both the front and rear cassette. It has 700x32 tires. I'm not ever expecting to be anywhere near competitive, of course, just wanting to ride a bit quicker and not feel like I'm working so hard at it. That's what got me thinking that I bought the wrong bike? Maybe I just need 2 bikes??

jon c. 

The old line I've seen attributed to both Merckx and LeMonde was "it doesn't get easier, you just get faster." With only 4 weeks at it, you will likely get a bit faster with more riding. A new bike may or may not get you a bit more speed. You'll be faster on a bike that fits you well. But outside of fit, I'm not sure the equipment makes much difference at relatively lower speeds.

I've been riding for six or seven years after a 30+ year break. I got faster in the first year and then plateaued. I expect from here out I'll just get a bit slower as I age. From my perspective, what I've learned is that "working fairly hard" isn't enough to increase speed. I can go one to two mph faster if I increase that to "working pretty hard". But I can only sustain that for an hour or so. Part of it is physical and part of it is just concentration. I ride alone and I have to really focus on "hard" to keep riding hard throughout the ride. I can get up to five mph faster holding the wheel of a better rider, but I realize when I'm doing that I'm working "really hard." So I realize that "really hard" is what I need to do to significantly increase speed. But I also realize I just don't have the drive to work that hard on solo rides. I'm doing it first and foremost for enjoyment and although I enjoy trying to do a faster ride ride from time to time, I accept that this works somewhat at cross purposes to the enjoyment factor for me. I just don't care to do that every time, so I've learned to be comfortable being a bit on the slow side.

TimothyH

You get faster by riding faster, not by riding more hours or more miles.

It is the same with any other form of exercise. Weight lifters get stronger by lifting more weight, not by lifting the same weight more times. A pitcher learns to throw the ball faster by throwing the ball fast, not by throwing the ball more times. A runner doesn't get fast in the 100 meters by running marathons but by running 100 meters as fast as he can, over and over and over.

Parts can help and more miles are great to build endurance but if you want to get faster then ride faster. Do exercises which push you to go near or at your limit. Intervals, tempo or just riding hard will work. You should be breathing heavy and pouring sweat. "As they say, "Hit it hard."

Make sure you pay attention to recovery - lots of sleep, good nutrition, etc. Recovery takes much longer as we age.


-Tim-

Maelochs

First off ... Yes, you need two bikes. To start with.

Second, you need time. Four weeks? if you can do eight miles in that heat after four weeks you are embarrassing me. Please slow down.

What I might suggest---time will increase your speed, just because every part of your body that you use while riding will grow. At some point speed won't increase much by riding longer ... but you just started.

Second, by "right gear" I mean that everyone has different best cadences ... how fast they turn the pedals. Too slow and you need huge muscles and it is inefficient. Too fast and your heart and lungs can't keep up and it is inefficient.

I rode with a guy a few months ago who rarely shifted (16 speeds i think, road bike) who and who put huge efforts into pedaling .... he was wasting a lot of energy and not using the mechanical advantage of his gearset. really made things harder on himself.

When i was young and much stronger I rode a lower cadence ... i grew up delivering newspapers and such, and standing up and grinding was what kids did on TV shows when they delivered papers. As an adult i learned that i couldn't do that and commute daily .... mostly I try to stay maybe 75-85 rpm?

Then as TimothyH notes ... after you have a good solid base of fitness, now and then, push for a little speed. Intervals are no fun but the best ... just going a little faster when you feel like it takes longer but is more fun.

When you post here again after four months you will be laughing at how much faster you got just by riding your bike around.

caloso

bogydave

YOU ONLY HAVE ONE BIKE **********?
Of course you need another bike, "come on man "
LOL

Bike shops can sell you speed, (up to a certain point)
Then if more speed needed....the electrics come into play.

BlazingPedals

I'm sure it's a bit of both. On my hybrid I'm doing well to average 13.5 mph on a 20-mile ride. On my recumbents, the standard is more like 19 or 20, maybe faster except that speed is limited by hanging back for the rest of the group.

Carbonfiberboy 

One secret is to ride hills. Only hills make you work hard enough. Another secret is to ride for hours at a time at whatever speed you can manage. My advice is to ride away from home until you're tired, then ride back. Keep trying to ride further. People think they're tired long before they are tired like cyclists get tired. You gotta dig to see results. One thing I tell myself is that endurance starts to build when I start enduring.

And of course it all takes time. It is said that it takes 7 years of cycling to get really fit. These adaptations are slow. So work hard, but don't expect huge results. It'll be slow. And of course as you age, everything gets harder to do. You might do fine just to stay even - which is a lot better than going down hill. I'm 73 but have been really working at it since I was 50. I cruise at ~18 mph on the flat at a very moderate effort and can still ride double centuries, climb in the mountains, that sort of thing. But I was already trained before I got o-l-d. I really started to notice the drop at about 63. At 60, I was still killing it.

jackb

Get rid of the cycle computer and you will lose all concern for speed. Just ride and enjoy being outside on a bike. There is more to cycling than speed.

fietsbob

Lower the expectations of speed and just enjoy the ride, and still being alive.

zandoval 

Speed kills... If ya really want to do it then work on your CLIMB...

wphamilton

Nailed it, all three.

I don't know about 70+, but I do know that improvement is slower the older I get. But also, improvement is greater than I thought possible at any given point in time. The key, to me, is pushing beyond the comfort zone be it distance, pace, cadence, hills or whatever, and the gradual improvement just happens.

reverborama

There's always going to be people out there who are faster than you and people slower than you. Neither matters unless you are the faster jerk who doesn't give me an "on your left" or bell ring when you pass me. The only thing that does matter is that you are out there riding and hopefully encouraging others to ride. The main reason I try to go faster is to be able to take a longer ride in the time I have.

JLDickmon

speed = torque x RPM
Mash 'em harder, go faster.
See if you can find a gym that has a Nautilus squat machine (and most importantly, A trainer that knows WTF he's doing).. work on your leg strength

Hondo Gravel

Rootman

Came here to say this. I too started being concerned about speed and bought a cycle computer to map my rides and keep track of speeds. After a while I realized I was missing out on a lot of stuff, all the nature, pretty houses (awful ones too) and other sites to see. So I just realized it was becoming something I didn't want, more stress in an already stress filled life, and a competition with myself that I didn't even care to be in.

So, I ride a slow even pace now. I joke that little old ladies on walkers often pass me. I still use the cycle computer to keep track of WHERE I went, but I hardly look at the speed any more. And, just now I just checked for the firs time in a few years, over 5 years of records I manage an astounding 10 mph average. But I enjoy it more and actively look for things to see and sites to behold and vistas to enjoy. It's therapeutic. One trick I learned is if I see something really interesting is to make a bunch of loops right where I see it, that way when I import the computer info to my SportTracks program I can see where it was I saw something on the map by the loops in the output. My wife doesn't ride and we've often taken the car and gone back to a place where I saw a pretty house, or field or whatever. It makes here at least a small part of my cycling.

Riveting

I'm 46 and ride with a 72 yr old Tom, who is easily the strongest rider in our group of 12. I currently have an FTP (20 mins.) of about 220 watts. This 72 yr old is probably pushing about 250 watts for that same duration. On serious climbs, when he passes me, it's hard to tell if he's even breathing, and his cadence is so much less than mine. I can't wait to be 70+ like Tom, and kicking the butts of the young'uns.

Maelochs

bravo.

I used to have a computer mounted on the stem. One day i was looking at it and thinking, "I need to go faster now if I am going to have a higher average than my last ride"-----then I realized I was riding my bike and looking at a number on a screen.

I still record all my ride data, but I keep the screen shut off. I will never lose another minute of my riding time worrying about how my numbers will look after the ride because i won't even see them until after the ride.

Nothing wrong with riding to a power meter or whatever. Nothing wrong with that style of riding ... but i ride for the pleasure, and when i start worrying about performance .... as perspective ... my best performance Might win me a race in the Special Olympics .... but probably not. The fast folk have a reason to care .... but my rides are more comedy performances, or maybe tragedies, than athletic performances.